


Eliot's Hair

by waterbird13



Series: Tumblr Fics [234]
Category: Leverage
Genre: Eliot's hair is extremely important, Multi, gender expression, genderqueer Eliot, hair as gender expression, supportive Hardison, supportive Parker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 01:43:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8184293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterbird13/pseuds/waterbird13
Summary: They know Eliot's genderqueer, but Eliot's still too shy on that front to often express how they're feeling.Parker notices that their hair is a pretty solid marker for them expressing gender.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a piece from Tumblr.
> 
> It is multi-chaptered. Eliot is genderqueer and expresses their gender at the time primarily through hairstyles. Parker and Hardison are very supportive.

Parker notices things. People don’t always realize she does, but she always notices things. 

She notices how often Hardison touches his chin or how twitchy he gets is directly proportional to how long he’s been away from a keyboard. She notices the way Eliot moves between them at every little noise, always protective.

She notices Eliot’s hair.

Everyone notices Eliot’s hair. It’s long and pretty and no hitter beside Eliot has hair like that. People think it’s a vanity thing, that it’s so pretty that Eliot just can’t get rid of it. Or else they think Eliot is so overconfident that they’re making a statement with it, that they can win a fight even with the hair.

People are stupid. Eliot never does anything except for practical reasons, even if what Eliot would consider practical may be different than everyone else.

Eliot’s hair is important and Parker realizes, at one point, that even Eliot doesn’t really understand why.

Eliot wears their hair depending on how they’re feeling that day. Sometimes it’s girl hair—feminine, Hardison had told her that word once—sometimes it’s boy hair—masculine—sometimes it’s neither. Sometimes Eliot manages to mix them together. 

The hair is a better indication than clothes, than behavior, than everything but Eliot flat-out telling them, which they pretty much never do because they’re still shy, even though Parker and Hardison try to show Eliot that they don’t have to worry. Parker knows, nine times out of then, and she can clue Hardison in, and they can just be there for Eliot, even if Eliot is still being shy. 

Hardison’s picked up the clues by now too, after Parker explained them to him and made him watch. Now they both know, most of the time.

She understood Eliot and their hair and what it meant far before she and Hardison managed to convince Eliot they wanted them in bed and everywhere else in their lives, the three of them, together. But after they make Eliot theirs and make the three of them a them, things are different. Eliot doesn’t mind when she and Hardison get close, doesn’t twitch and look weird anymore.

So she goes behind them in the bathroom one morning, dragging Hardison behind her by the hand, standing what Eliot used to consider too close. They’re looking into the mirror, contemplating their hair.

“Can we help?” she chirps. Hardison looks at her, confused, but she doesn’t look back.

Eliot shakes their head. “You wanna…help? Just fixin’ my hair.”

She nods, though, so Eliot sighs. “Sure, whatever. You can help.”

Parker grins and reaches for the brush, running it through Eliot’s hair. Eliot’s eyes close, briefly. Hardison brushes his teeth while she and Eliot focus on Eliot’s hair, but he’s watching the who of them the whole time.

She sets the brush down. “What do you want to do with it?” she asks. She thinks she knows, or at least can guess what type of day it is, what type of hair day it will be, but she needs to hear Eliot say it.

Eliot shrugs. “Was gonna braid it,” they say. “With the, uh, beads. It’ll take a while; thanks for brushing it.”

She points to the closed toilet. “Sit down and we’ll do it,” she says. 

Surprising both of them, Hardison nods over Eliot’s protests. “Got nothin’ but time,” he says. “Let us help?”

Eliot raises an eyebrow. “Do you know how?”

Hardison grins and shrugs. “Guess we’ll find out.”

Eliot sighs deeply but sits and lets them touch their hair.

Hardison’s attempts at braiding turn out pretty decent, and Parker thinks they should all do this more often.


	2. Chapter 2

There’s a really, really bad job, one they never want to talk about again, _ever,_  but, long story short, it involved Eliot crawling around in what was essentially massive piles of garbage for an extended period of time and it was nasty.

The clothes, they toss. They’re not even that nice of clothes, nothing that it hurts Eliot to throw into the garbage. They can shower off the rest, standing under the scalding hot water until their skin stops itching. But their hair is wrecked. There’s weird, sticky substances in it and it’s matted in placed and they’re sure there is gross shit just waiting to be found if anyone touches it. They write it off as a loss, even as it hurts, and thinks of where they left some scissors and an electric razor.

Parker and Hardison won’t hear of it. They know exactly how important Eliot’s hair is to them, what it means, so they sit Eliot’s ass in the tub and insist they can fix it.

Eliot tells them at least four times that they don’t want to touch it, but Parker and Hardison just repeatedly tell them to shut up, so Eliot gives in. If they want to stick their hands in garbage hair, that’s their choice.

Alec snaps on latex gloves, which is probably a good choice. Parker just shrugs and points out they’re using soap and hot water anyways, so what does it matter, and gets right into scrubbing at Eliot’s hair.

The two of them work, trading off when their arms get tired of scrubbing, rubbing, and massaging, getting shampoo all through Eliot’s hair, working the grime and the slime out, slowly bringing back the luxurious shine that is Eliot’s hair.

It takes over two hours, but finally, Hardison decides they’re all done. Eliot has their eyes closed–the massaging motions felt good, they always love Hardison and Parker playing with their hair, even if this isn’t the best circumstances. Parker pokes them until they grumble and get out of the tub, though, and Alec rinses it out with the shower nozzle while Parker towel dries Eliot’s hair.

It’s a curly, damp mess, but Eliot is just honestly so relieved to still have it that they can’t help but immediately pull the other two into a hug. 

They just grin, hug Eliot back, and ask them how they want to style it.


	3. Chapter 3

The three of them fall into a routine. Eliot wakes up first, going for their workout. Somewhere in there, Parker will get up, and Eliot will turn around to find Parker watching them, typically sitting cross-legged on the windowsill. Her silent, sudden presence doesn’t even startle him anymore. Then, together, they’ll wake a reluctant Alec, have a shower together, do Eliot’s hair, and then start the day with breakfast.

Nothing’s changed about their routine, only for the duration of the con, Eliot hasn’t been able to choose their daily hairstyle. No, they’re bringing down a racist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic asshole who runs drugs to high school kids, which means Eliot at their most masculine can be their only point of contact to lure the mark into the trap Parker is spinning.

It’s starting to really grate on Eliot, only being allowed to show a fraction of themself. They know Alec and Parker feel bad about it, are trying their best to help Eliot at home, but Eliot honestly just needs this to be over.

Which is why today is such an important day.

Parker, Eliot swears, likes watching the mark realize they’ve screwed themselves even more than Nate did. Eliot and Alec are on board with this, one hundred percent.

Eliot wakes up, knowing today is that day. Their next thought is _hey, today is kinda a fem day_.

They have Parker do their hair in that waterfall braid that she’s become so good at. They pick out a nice, purple shirt. And while Eliot isn't much for makeup–no one in their house honestly is–they figure today they can make an exception. It just feels like the type of day where they should go all out.

Dressed nicely, hair done, and made up, Eliot joins Parker and Alec as they watch the police take the mark in. It’s a good enough feeling on its own, honestly, but then the mark sees Eliot from across the street, and his eyes widen, and his jaw drops.

Eliot chuckles darkly, smirking. “Fucking awesome,” they say, as the mark is led away in cuffs, their last taste of the free world being knowing that the up-and-coming, super macho muscle likes purple shirts, braids, winged eyeliner and soft pink lipstick some days. That, some days, that super macho muscle is not macho at all muscle, and the muscle is perfectly happy with that, thank you very much. The mark can ponder that in prison for the next twenty years.

Really, it’s the best feeling in the world.

And it becomes perfect when Eliot walks away, hand-in-hand-in-hand with Parker and Alec, and Eliot can’t stop grinning.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The waterbird13 Leverage Ficlet Podfic Collection](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8847553) by [NeuroticSquirrel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeuroticSquirrel/pseuds/NeuroticSquirrel)




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